Apparently there was some sphinx drama, which I found out about only after the fact. How much do I love Mod R? Thiiiiis much.
To date we have written 28 novels and a handful of novellas and short stories. If we ballpark it at 100,000 words per novel – some are less but the novellas make up for it – we’re at 2,800,000 words. If each word was a dollar bill and we stacked them on top of each other, it would reach to the height of 1,002.4 feet.
It is inevitable that in a body of work that large, some words and concepts are repeated. Especially, since Kate Daniels is a heavily mythological series that alone spans over 1,000,000 words. Most well known mythological creatures are either featured or mentioned in the series.
KD and Innkeeper both have vampires and knights. KD, Innkeeper, the Edge, and Hidden Legacy all have shapeshifters. KD and the Edge have witches, and so on. People in all three series have eaten breakfast.
The list goes on. It’s highly possible that we will have a sexy djinn dude in the future or a hilariously comical manticore, because reinterpreting familiar concepts is fun for us.
It’s exciting to make connections between the series. I remember when Gordon casually told me that Simon Green’s Hawk and Fisher are really Prince Rupert and Princess Julia from Blue Moon Rising, it blew my mind. I am dense and it flew right by me the first time I read it.
But when an author has used rancid spaghetti as an example of something that’s gross twice in 15 years and almost 3 million words or features characters that are eating sausage and pancakes during breakfast – an American staple, saying that the authors are obsessed with it is a bit of a stretch. Comments like this are frequently removed, first, because they often cross the line into making assumptions about us as people and second, because they generate a long line of responses arguing with it. Feelings inevitably get hurt, and nobody likes that.
To stress, this is not a judgement by any means. It’s flattering when readers feel passionate about your work. This is mostly about preventing long drawn-out arguments.
That said, yes, we are totally obsessed with breakfast. And brinner. Brinner is awesome.
Now for the really important question: will we be putting sphinxes into Hidden Legacy?
Hehehe.
If it means that much to you, I’m sure we can add House Sphinx in there somewhere.
Love Simon Greens “Forrest Kingdom” and “Hawk and Fisher” series. I was suspicious for the longest time that Hawk and Fisher were Rupert and Julia and loved when I finally figured it out. so much fun when authors can connect things that way.
Im sticking my comment on to this one as it’s the first one I have seen talking about the Hawk and Fisher part of the post:
Is House Andrews aware that GraphicAudio released all of the Hawk and Fisher stories as Graphic Audio books?! I’m currently listening to book 4 (having already finished 1-3) and have not been disappointed at all. I haven’t read the books in years, so I am unsure if everything is exactly as the book was, but it feels right to my memories.
As soon as I can snag the GrapicAudio version of Clean Sweep from Audible, I will.
Isn’t brinner just… lunch? Halfway between breakfast and dinner?
Or is a midnight breakfast (a staple of finals week when I was in college) brinner? Wouldn’t that be Dinfast?
…actually, dinfast sounds like a pretty accurate term for what happens when you throw a midnight feast for a few hundred furiously caffeinated college students mid-finals-week.
It’s the foods typically eaten for breakfast but had at dinner time ????.
Dinfast sounds about right hehe
Huh. Well it’s definitely shorter than “breakfast for dinner” which is what we called it lol 🙂
I vote yes for house sphinx!
Mod R really is amazing. <3
Lol…I’m totally making brinner tonight! I don’t like to eat when I wake up so I normally skip breakfast but I love breakfast food so I normally make it once a month!
Now I’m obsessing over a sexy, future djinn, just saying ????
Yes please!
Sphinx house should be in security. If they hide something for you, you either need another sphinx or a sphinx key to get it. The higher the power, the more they can hide and the harder it is to find. A finder sphinx can locate anything, but they have to balance the speed at which they find something with hiding something of value. Maybe they work on spells for five years to avoid finding costs, but if you want something tomorrow it costs your family home or hiding a child. there could be a cool witness protection aspect where they hide someone valuable and balance that with finding something else.
Wait, you guys are regular humans like the rest of us! Like we don’t repeat, favor certain saying, and #gasp# make a mistake. Your stories have inspired me to read deeper about mythology, guns, history and so much more. I have learned so much by reading your stories. Please keep inspiring the hordes, even if some don’t get it!
Imagine the annoying passive field : you are forced to talk in riddles that rythme ????
Gotta ask…what is ‘brinner’??
Must admit, as a Scot, I struggle with the concept of biscuits and grits. Your biscuits look like scones and taste awful! Not a fan of grits either but when I was in Texas & Georgia, I did try them most mornings in the hope they might improve. They didn’t! I do like pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast though.
American biscuits are meant to be a bread or roll you can put gravy on or make a breakfast sandwich with a sausage patty and egg. You can also make it sweet with honey or jam (I looove lemon curd).
Funnily enough, we have “English muffins” that are basically biscuits used for eggs Benedict.
Brinner is when you have typical breakfast foods for dinner 🙂 . Who amongst us hasn’t done a fry up for tea hehe. Although hold the blood pudding for me, thx.
I recognize that some things will cross over from one series to another but it seems to me they have each had their own spin related to the book they are in so they were fantastic anyway.
Sphinx or djinn? It doesn’t matter to me. I know I will love the book anyway.
Brinner was a staple growing up for me too. Haven’t done it much for my family because I have an AWESOME husband who loves to cook.
Love the word Brinner! Now we know what some of our dinners are called. Heheh!
Lol. I read that chapter of innkeeper and thought-it’s always apples. Apple cake, apple pie…
House Sphinx would be cool. Just last week one of our meals was our version of breakfast pizza. When I win the lottery I think I will have someone come and make brunch at the house once a month. So I can eat brunch in my jammies ????
Haha, that was me! Sorry, I didn’t mean to start drama. I love your writing, but was confused over it being in two books written so close together.
Hoping you have lots of delicious tea and colorful yarn for the winter!
If there is ever a House Sphinx, there shall be a Julia in it. 😀
I am sorry if I in any way contributed to that too with an offhand comment about IA liking sphinxes/guardians. Didn’t mean anything by it or realize how it sounded. I love these books and using mythological creatures in various forms in different stories (well, it’s only two, out of many) makes perfect sense to me. They’re cool.
No worries, Jess ????
Please help Mod R or BDH. I just finished re-reading all the KD POV books in the series (TBH I skipped book 6 because I can’t stand the interactions with Lorelei, but I digress). I swear I remember a book where Kate is investigating something at an antique shop and the owner throws a bunch of snakes at Kate and she climbs on the counter to avoid them and gets stuck there and almost dies. While she’s almost dying she takes pictures of the crime scene and addresses them to Jim. Later she sneaks back into the warehouse of the antique store and calls Roman to help her get out. In my re-read I never came across this. What book is this from? Did I make it up? Is it another series that I’ve somehow converted into KD in my head? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It wasn’t Kate, it was her sharp-shooting bouda friend. It’s in her book
Thank you all so much. I knew you could help me out. My poor brain just had convinced me it was Kate, and I hadn’t read Andrea’s book. Ha, that’ll teach me.
Andrea in Gunmetal Magic. 🙂
Thank you! Note to self, “don’t skip books.” 🙂
Also, just wanted to clear up my comment about book 6. I loved that book (as I love all of your books). I think you are such great writers that you can write characters that I get so wrapped up in. In this case, Lorelei is so incredibly mean and vindictive that I just couldn’t handle her in my current state of mind. Sorry if my comment came off as rude. I didn’t intend it to be that way.
I knew it sounded familiar. It is not Kate Daniels, but Andrea, in _Gunmetal Magic_. So from the KD world, just not Kate herself. Admittedly, I also thought it might be from the Death Before Dragons series because it does sound like something Val might get herself into, but after an hour rummaging around in that world, realized that neither Jim or Roman live there, so it had to be either Andrea or Julie, or possibly a short story or novella in KD. Hope that helps!
Ooh, I’ll have to check out this Death Before Dragons. Thanks for your help… and the book recommendation.
House Sphynx, lol
The cat in the pic is gorgeous. I want one, or two
Can we theorise as how??
Will they be the Swiss bank of Houses? Guarding your valuables unless you can give them the solution to the three puzzles for withdrawal. ( I renounce all copywrite claims on this HA ????????????????)
Maybe the Emmets Family (sp) should have considered it for their amplifier. On the other hand it would have completely wrecked Hidden Legacy book 1. Adam would have not been able to pull off collecting it in one novel ????
What about House Brinner? O:-)
Sexy djinn dude!!!!!!!! Sexy djinn dude!!!! :))) <3<3<3<3<3
Yes. Yes. I want House Sphinx. Or any Sphinx in HD. I really, really want it. So nice of you to ask! 😀 Will it have egyptian roots? We need some family history.
However, I definitly wouldn’t say no to the hilariously comical manticore either. 😉 You got it, and I think most of us love the reinterpretation of the same creatures in different series.
Ok this is only are Suggestion why dont you Use are birdman (man whit eagle head)
Ore a Stone China Temple dog , sorry have forgoten the Name of this .
Wish you all good work and bright wheather
House Sphinx would be fun. 🙂 Anyone who fails to answer their questions properly gets attacked… or with an Egyptian heritage with cat-like skills. and -wearing a tinfoil hat- since the BDH likes links to other worlds, perhaps ties to a specific jackel god who wanted to take over Andrea?!?! (kidding!)
And brinner is wonderful. Who’s not obsessed with food? Speaking of, it’s time for elevenses… should that be leftover spaghetti before it turns rancid, or fajitas -another favorite item listed- or additional sausage? 🙂
I never heard the term “brinner.” Of course, I googled it. How cool is it to learn I’ve been trendy all along. Keep up the enlightening work!
House Sphinx? Yes, please.
Thank you Mod R! And It’s so exciting to see how critters get reimagined in the different worlds you all make!
Sphinxes whenever possible please…
Now… breadmakers are a trial.
The best cook I know got one years ago – and not only wouldn’t let anyone eat the first THREE productions, she wouldn’t feed them to her dogs (which usually manage to beg SOMETHING off her – and can apparently digest ANYTHING). Over the next year or so, a few further productions were declared EVIL upon arrival and also summarily dispatched.
The last time I was there, she had taken various cheeses which had been in the fridge so long they were too hard for even the dogs and ground them down to powder. Into the bread mix they went – along with a couple of other things she thought likely. The result was DELICIOUS!
So, don’t give up on the breadmaker just yet. You’ll get there and be happy you did.
My favorite line: people in all three series have eaten breakfast ???????????? cackling in my house at this!
I love brinner, and have for years. And now I have a cool new name for it!
Do eeet!
If it makes you feel better, I’m at the nitpicking of fine details stage because Hidden Legacy has been added to my Comfort Listening list, along with the Murderbot Diaries. (Nothing beats Kevin R Free and his rendition of Murderbot)
I listen when I need a break or need to destress.
I love that the BDH just embrace House Sphinx.
We must be like sugared up toddlers to manage
???????????? you have challenged me to bake things I never have made before! Catalina’s Apple “thing” was fabulous!
All cat lovers must surely love and be in awe of the Sphinx. But actually, when I read the description, I thought it was going to be one of those cat creatures that had tried to invade Auul.
Better House Sphinx than House Sphincter. Glad I am not an admin in this crazy, world.
Hmmm i have now gone in search of Blue Moon Rising and suddenly want sausage and pancakes for blupper
Use that you need. We use me read it all and know that you are the best.
Thanks mk
Bwah ha ha ha. Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post.
OMG. We need a House Sphinx. Just because I want to know what their powers are. I missed the drama. But I like missing drama. I like my drama to come from your stories.
I think they should only be able to speak in riddles when they help you get information. So if you guess the riddle right: then the magic works and they get the answer to give you. If you get the riddle wrong, forget about it o answers. But they can decide what riddle to give you. So if they want you to success they give you a softball. But if they want to scr*w you, you aren’t ever going to be able to figure that riddle out.
What happened to Double D?
Sometime, if possible and practical, I’d love to see that Babba Yanga book published. I still want to know what happened.
Ummm, which Baba Yaga (not Yanga ????) book would this be?
General question:
I just came across a passage in Andy Weir’s new book that made me laugh, & I wondered if Ilona has a comment?
Weir, Andy, Project Hail Mary (Ballantine, 2021), p. 268:
I leaned to Dimitri. “Are all Russians crazy?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “It is the only way to be Russian and happy at the same time.”
“That’s . . . dark.”
“That’s [italics] Russian!”
Any Chance we can get more POV from Curran?
No. That series is finished.
Not sure you would have to explain the use of characters or the food the eat. Would I be interested in any of the books written by those that would judge you on this? Probably not.
Your writing abilities are amazing. There have been other authors that I have followed thru 6 to 8 books and stopped because of repetition, or the predictability of the situations. You, however, have kept me for many years. The food is great, but then I have eaten a breakfast of rice and fish in one county and boiled potatoes, tomatoes with home made vodka in another. Some how those just don’t fit the stories.
If House Sphinx is actually turned into a repository of information as Wey suggests and is commented upon, then it makes a bit of logical sense that some entity (or person, mage, etc,) has created or found a backdoor into the info. JMHO